Cactus Flower Florists has been serving the Phoenix metro area since 1972. We are family owned and operated and are committed to offering our customers the finest in floral gifts, backed by our 100% guarantee. We've been named Best of Phoenix by Phoenix Magazine and CitySearch Best Florist, among many other awards. Cactus Flower offers same-day, nationwide delivery with five locations to serve you. Follow us @cactusflower72

Friday, August 4, 2017

Sunflower: Bright and Sunny, But That's Not All

The sunflower is one of the most requested blooms by our
customers. Once considered a fall flower, it is now generally available to us
year-round, with supplies most plentiful from late July through late November.

*The sunflower is Kansas's state flower. However, it is considered a weed
by many farmers there, as it grows so fast and spreads so prolifically.

*The scientific term for the sunflower is Helianthus, with 'helios' meaning sun
and 'anthus' meaning plant.

*There are about 70 known species. Fun Fact: All but three of the 70
species are native to North America.

*Russia and Argentina grow the most sunflowers for floral and foodstuff
production.

*The largest field of sunflowers is located in Tuscany, Italy.

*While most grow anywhere from three to nine feet tall, the tallest sunflower
ever was produced in the Netherlands, at a whopping TEN FEET tall!

*The width of most sunflowers falls between five to twelve inches, so could you
just imagine what the world's record 32" looked like? It was grown
in British Columbia.

*Sunflowers love the sun, but they are also huge water consumers. When
found in the wild, they are easy to spot near watery areas such as creeks,
riverbeds, and the like.

*While growing, sunflowers raise their heads to track the sun, however once
mature, most will face east.

*If you are a Leo (born July 23rd through August 22nd) the sunflower is your
sign's flower

Sunflowers are a wonderful 'face' flower, as we florists like to call it.
A face flower is simply the focal flower, the star of the show, and few blooms
do it with such panache as this big, bright yellow beauty. Quite
versatile, it can be it can be mixed with several other colors and textures to
create a beautiful bouquet, but it looks even more stunning when the entire
bouquet is of sunflowers. Favorite greenery (other than good old salal,
of course) is spiral eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, and gravalia. Accent
flowers that play nicely with sunflowers include solidago or Viking daisies
(which look like tiny little sunflowers!) In nature, yellow's favorite
contrasting color is purple--just try pairing with bright purple statice and you'll
see what we mean!

And just why are we lauding the humble sunflower? Why, it's the Cactus
Flower Fresh Ten special of the month! That's right, until August 31st,
stop in at any one of out locations in the metro Phoenix area and pick up ten
stems for just ten bucks. Shop now.